Over the past two months I have traveled to Hong Kong and Munich to attend electronic component trade fairs. The experiences were both widely different and quite similar. In this months article the face and issues of the Asian and European relay and switch markets will be explored.

The two shows or trade fairs that I attended were Electronic Asia in Hong Kong and electronica in Munich, Germany. The same company, Messe Munich, managed both shows and some of the exhibitors from Electronic Asia also displayed at electronica, probably a package deal of sorts. But this is where the similarities end.

Electronic Asia was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center where 562 electronic component exhibitors showed their wares in a 12,900 square meter space. At the same time and location the Hong Kong Electronics Fair had 2,610 exhibitors of consumer electronics, appliances, and house wares spread out over 65,100 square meters. So component portion of the show was a fifth the size in terms of exhibitors and floor space and it took me about an hour to navigate through the convention center to reach the component hall on the seventh floor of an annex located next to the main exhibit halls.

Once I reached the component hall I found the area tightly packed mainly with uniformly equipped 3 meter by 3 meter booths with almost exclusively Asian exhibitors and decorated with display boards, posters, and sample kits. Walking through the aisles I found myself almost constantly declining the offer of product literature for products I did not have an interest in. The time I spent there was efficient as I was able to have dozens of meetings with Asian relay and switch manufacturers over the course of few days.

In Munich, electronica surely is the largest electronic component trade show in the world. With just fewer than 3,000 exhibitors spread out over 14 halls each being approximately the size of a football field. This show was for exhibitors of electronic components and their suppliers, as well as, equipment and process suppliers used to assembly the components from all over the world. There was no consumer products section to this show.

Each of the 14 halls had a specific product focus such as relays, switches, and keyboards in one hall, connectors in another hall and automotive electronics in a different hall. One hall was dedicated to Asian manufacturers from Electronic Asia. This hall used 25% of the available floor space and only Asian manufactures were located there. It reminded me of the kid’s table at Thanksgiving.

The booths at electronica were far more elaborate than in Asia, although most Asian companies still utilized standard issue furnishings. Some booths rose a complete two stories with product displays on the ground floor with meeting rooms and dining areas on the second. Yes, most of these booths include food and beverage service. One distributor’s booth looked more like the dining area of a beer hall than trade show booth with rows of long tables and wait staff to tend to visitors.

As with Electronic Asia, my time was well spent at electronica meeting with dozens of international switch and relay manufacturers. In contrasting the style and format of these exposition it is quite clear that Asian manufacturers not only spend less on labor they also spend far less on trade shows.

At Electronic Asia the main topic of discussion was the U. S. economy. How bad is it? Will it get worse? And most importantly, when will it improve? For the first time in over a decade the new industrial economy in Asia is slowing down, lack of demand from the U.S. is a major cause, and the folks in Asia are worried. Even though there is a domestic market the people, I spoke to feel this is small and not growing. A different perspective from those outside of Asia that see their domestic consumption driving up the cost of fuel, commodities, and raw materials.

In Germany the economy was again the prime topic of discussion as the U.K. and Germany both declared recession while electronica was underway. Here however it was more focused on the local economic hard times. The German auto industry has slowed significantly. Both BMW and Mercedes are planning 3 to 4 week holiday shut downs, 3 to 4 longer than the usual 1 week. It is rumored that Mercedes is trying to hide thousands of new S Class models, their top of the line car, in warehouses so share holders can’t watch the inventory grow. The global economic slow down triggered by the housing and financial meltdown in the United States is the major target of blame.

President-elect Obama was another hot subject at electronica and outside of the show in Munich. To say that Europeans love Obama is an understatement. His election has done more to improve the image of the United States in Europe than anything since John Kennedy. The current administration’s heavy-handed use of military and hands off economic policies have deeply scarred our reputation on the continent. In one conversation I was asked how quickly Obama can turn things around. I replied that he is only one man and the economic problem is like a boulder rolling down a mountain and one man getting in front of it may not do anything, he will need help. We are now seeing him assemble the help he needs. When asked about my home city it is nice hear Obama instead of Al Capone in response to Chicago.

While there are some stark differences between how things are done around the world we are all tied together by trade. The interconnection of economies is more evident than ever. Some fear or distrust this fact. This change has occurred. If unwanted, reversing it seems unlikely.